The original drawing is traced using a soft lead pencil. The paper is reversed in order to place the pencilled side in contact with the blackened plate and the image is transferred under the pressure of the printing press. The etching needle then drawn lightly along the the impressed lines of the image, so exposing the metal underneath. The image may then be etched into the metal by immersion in a bath of dilute nitric acid (used for zinc) or of ferric chloride solution (for copper). At timed intervals the plate may be removed from the bath, dried and sections protected from further attack by painting them with varnish. In this way a sense of depth in the image may be obtained.

When printing the completed image, excess ink is applied to the plate and it is then wiped clean in a manner which leaves ink within the bitten lines; this residual ink is forced out on to the dampened printing paper under the pressure of the printing press.

Aquatint is a variant on line etching which produces a body of tone like a watercolour wash. It was first used in England about 1770 by Peter Burdett of Liverpool. To prepare the plate a low density resin is suspended as a cloud in a closed box: the cleaned metal plate is inserted and left for the particles to settle on its surface. On heating from below with a hand held gas flame the resin melts and the particles meld where they touch, to leave a matrix of tiny holes through which acid may penetrate and produce a roughened surface which will accept ink. The image is created by selectively protecting the surface with varnish and by varying exposure times.